ISBN : 81 - 87053-57-9Synergy of R&D and Marketing

© NML Jamshedpur , India (2003), pp.215-220.

Rural Markets for Technologies - PresentIndian Scenario

K. CHATTERJEENational Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur-831 007

Abstract : Indian villages were literally self sufficient in ancient daysas is evident from our Puranas and Vedic literatures. The colonial rulehad destroyed that fabric in their own interest and we lost our traditionnot only of self-sufficiency but also of the creative mindset necessary

for starting any new thing. Long years of subordination made us to

lose our entrepreneurial qualities. India lost its ingenuity not only in its

industrial sector but also in education and art.

Independent India tried to break loose of this by setting up large in-

dustries and industrial townships that led to a migration of rural masses

to these flourishing neighbourhoods. But after 50 years of indepen-

dence with a partial shift of focus a congenial atmosphere has been

created with now compels us to look into the rural markets or unorganisedsector as a whole. Consumer companies have already made an in-

road to these consumers and have already paved the way for entre-

preneurs to tap that market.

Keywords : Rural market, Indian scenario, Market pull, Technology

diffusion.

INTRODUCTION

It is evident from history that India was literally self-sufficient inearlier days in all fields of life. Ancient India can boast of tech-nological accomplishments like: The most well planned civilisationof Harappa and Mahenjodaro, Damuscus Sword, Iron Pillar ofDelhi, Arts and Artefacts (Investment/Dokra Casting & fine filligreeworks), Moslins and so many other things mentioned in Puranasand Vedic literatures. To name a few Pushpak Rath of Ravana,

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Use of Vishalyakarani to bring back Lakshman from coma/death,Technique of making oneself Invisible as used by Meghnath, EkaghniBan - a target oriented Misile released by Karna for destructionof Arjuna as mentioned in Mahabharata where Ghatothkach hadto take the position of Arjuna and sacrifice himself.

Repeated invasions and Colonial rule had destroyed that fabricof self-sufficiency covering the Indian society in their own inter-est and we lost our tradition of self-sufficient. Not only that, welost our creative mindset needed for starting any new thing orcoping up with the challenge. Long years of subordination crippledus both in body and mind and made us to lose our entrepreneur-ial qualities. India lost its ingenuity in every sphere of life- art,education and industrial sector.

However, these are some exceptions to this. The HandkerchiefExporter of Murshidabad whose family had been exporting silkhandkerchiefs to UK and France from time immemorial and whoseproduct had been appreciated and used by Colonial Masters ofIndia who bought those from England is one such example oftriumph of creative entrepreneurial mind. The 20x20 inches darkblue silk handkerchiefs with motifs of different colours includingred and yellow were liked by aristocrats of England, not to men-tion only Carmaikel. He used to buy these by aristocrats of En-gland, not to mention only Lord Carmaikel. He used to buy thesefrom a shop in Edinborougha. In 1911 when he reached Madrasto rule as the Governor he started searching for this type of hand-kerchiefs. He was told that this might be available in Bangladesh.Soon after he became the Governor of Bengal and started a franticsearch. In this process Calcutta, Bombay, Burma, Japan-thesenames started appearing in this list. In the meantime Indian In-dustry and Trade Dept came to the conclusion that these werenot of Indian origin and might be traced to southern provinces ofFrance. Having no other options, Lord Caramel gave orders tothat shop in Edinborougha, requesting them to inform him aboutits origin and to all of their astonishment came the answer-Murshidabad of Bengal.

There in Kaghra, Beherampur one man called SasakamohanBagchi - a silk merchant - used to get these handkerchiefs and

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dress materials for gown etc. done by two local looms of finestweavers of Murshidabad and used to exhort these to France.

Not to mention that these raw materials were Indian, even thedifferent dyes which were used for colouring the materials weremade from plants and vegetables.

Why I mentioned this in detail is because these creative qualitiesare the driving forces in one's life and the building blocks of a devel-oped society. Creativity is behind all the thinking process which leadsto newer ideas necessary for development, adoption, transforma-tion and survival.This is true for all those which have life - plants,animals and human beings and for their existence in this world.This is equally true for all the activities related to a human being.

The main resource for transformation of any input to output isthe man or men behind it - the entrepreneurs, the artisans, theindustrialists whatever you may call them.

Independent India tried to break loose of the colonial subordi-nation by setting up large industries with the help of new ageentrepreneurs like Tatas, Birlas , Godrej, Ambanis and also un-der public sector. Industrial belts and townships with better jobopportunities and modern amenities led to a migration of ruralmasses from villages to these flourishing neighbourhoods.

But after 50 years of independence with a partial shift of focuscoupled with agricultural success and land reforms a congenialatmosphere has been created which now compels us to look intothe rural markets or unorganised sector as a whole. The tact thatexodus to Towns has subsiantiaiiy reduced due to shrinking jobopportunities in towns and creation of new earning opportunitiesin villages has helped to create a new rural market with 70% oftotal Indian population living in these rural areas. Consumer com-panies have already made an inroad to these consumers and havealready paved the way for the entrepreneurs to tap that market.

TRAITS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP - A NEW BREED FORRURAL INDIA

Apart from all other qualities or abilities the entrepreneur musthave risk taking capability is at the core. Risk taking ability: In

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its own domain everyone is an entrepreneur - in its immediateenvironment a scientist either enoaaed in basic or industrial

research and is processing something is an entrepreneur in

himself or herself. In the larger environment an industrialist who

is translating these processes is an entrepreneur and we will

concentrate on this category. Here comes the test for ability of

the entrepreneur to take risk that may be classified as (i) Tech-

nological Risk (ii) Market Risk and (iii) Financial Risk

Technological Risk: To understand this let us define what wemean by Technology. Technology may be conceived of havingtwo parts (i) Software - culmination of research activities intoa process and (ii) Hardware - the diffusion/ transfer of soft-ware for ultimate utilization. An entrepreneur who is venturinginto a project will definitely want the technological risk to beminimum. Reasons behind this may be that Technology - thisand only this can give the entrepreneur the tangible outputwhich he/she wants, a failure will lead to a doomsday. Theentrepreneur is not a technologist and hence cannot handleany failure , this fear psychosis plays the role of a constantinhibitor. The entrepreneur has to take the market risk andfinancial risk - which he feels he can handle and don't want toincrease his burden by taking technological risk over and abovethe other risks. This is true everywhere - whether in cities orsuburbs or villages - only the degree of risk varies. Hence thetechnology package is to be designed in such a way that itacts as a stimulator by reducing the level of varying degree ofrisk.

Market Pull

Like in all other organised sector creation of something durable

depends particularly on two types of societal demand - the eternal

and internal inspiration and the external immediate need. And

one must remember that this demand has been necessitatedout of that same internal state of revelations. Once this getstultilled it will try to reduce the societal imbalance and harmonise

our rural and urban context. Consumer durables and modern

day gadgets have already penetrated this market. But logistical

difficulties, inadequate networking, non-availability of spare parts,

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poor servicing facilities have prevented the rural market fromopening up although the latent need is there amongst a certainsection of the rural people whose per capita income has in-creased in Tecent years. This indicates that the entrepreneurwho will be able to identify these potential customers and theirneeds properly will be able to reduce the market risk by trans-lating this need into demand for his product.

Financial Risks

Governmental initiatives to develop the infrastructural facilitiesin the backward and remote areas which are full of natural re-sources of one kind or the other by creating industrial zones,constructing fast track highways, giving tax holidays, etc. andalso governmental policies to upgrade the economic and livingconditions of village people by giving power to every hamlet,connecting every villages by road, fixing minimum wage rates,formalising crop insurance have helped in the reduction of fi-nancial risk perception.

However, it must be remembered that these rural markets areneither early adopter nor do they fall in the category of earlymajority in the so called adoption process.This category is moreinterested in applications than technology per se and needlessto say that this is the prevailing attitude even in organised sec-tor also.

Nevertheless one must not differ that they constitute a poten-tial market for transferring the technologies.

DIFFUSION OF TECHNOLOGY : SMART MOVES

Keeping these external and internal conditions in view smartmoves consist of offering relevant proven technology in differ-ent tailor - made packages as per the demographic, societal,local and individual requirement. This will reduce the risk andwill help in easier adoption.The lack of confidence may be overcomeby training the prospective work force at site. One may shifttransferring only the core technology to: (i) Transfer of augmentedproduct process/ new uses/ applications using the core tech-nology for different segment or (ii) Penetrate such markets byadopting the Bowling strategy (Fig. 1)

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Segment 3

Figure ; 1

Collaborative / co-operative approach is gaining confidence.Technologies for things having effect on mass like medicinalplants, floriculture , ayurvedic drugs, herbal cosmetics, milk products(Amul, Mother Dairy), food products ( Lijjat Papad ), low costconstruction materials , electrical goods and so many othershave a good rural market and this will pave the way for adop-tion of more advanced technologies in near future.

CONCLUSIONS

With the in road by the consumer companies the opportunemoment to penetrate the Indian rural market which may give asmall return unit wise but as a whole the multiplying effect willbe tremendous for anyone venturing into that area. Moreover,the governmental initiatives for building the infrastructure in thosebackward areas have also helped. It must be remembered thatthese rural markets are neither early adopter nor do they fall inthe category of early majority in the so called adoption pro-cess . This category is more interested in applications than tech-nology per se and needless to say that this is prevailing attitudeeven in organised sector also.

Nevertheless one must not differ that they constitute a potential marketfor transferring the technologies. Smart Moves to overcome thesedifficulties consist of offering the relevant but same technology packagetailored as per the demographic, societal, local and individual re-quirement . This will help in easier adoption . One may shift fromtransferring only the core technology to transfer of augmented productprocess using the core technology . The Bowling Alley strategy maybe adopted for penetrating such markets.

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